Pages

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Hollywood Racism: Racist Warner Brothers company choosing Tom Cruise to play Keiji Kiriya in live adaptation of the novel "All you need is kill"

Warner Bros has finally glommed onto a lead actor for its adaptation of the Japanese science fiction novel All You Need is Kill.
Set in a post apocalyptic future, All You Need is Kill is
about a young Japanese soldier, Keiji Kiriya, who serves on an
international fighting force fighting an alien invasion. Keiji gets
stuck in a “Groundhog’s Day” scenario where he keeps reliving the day he
died.
Set to play the main character in the film adaptation? On December 1st, 2011, Variety reported: Tom Cruise.

Is Warner Bros on a racebending roll?

Throughout November, Warner Bros kicked around names for its adaptation of another property with Japanese origins: Akira.
After considering Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves, WB nabbed Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy) for Kaneda, continues to evaluate a shortlist of unknown Caucasian actors for Tetsuo, and has offered Kristen Stewart (Twilight) the role of Kaneda’s love interest.

Gary Oldman and Helena Bonaham Carter
were also propositioned for supporting roles. After Gary Oldman turned
down his offer to play the antagonist in the adapted story, the
Colonel, Japanese stage actor Ken Watanabe was reportedly offered the role. A casting call has also gone out for a “Japanese American” for the role of Yamagata, a side character from the manga.
Warner Bros is also jump starting an adaptation of the Japanese anime Death Note.
One of these films will have an Asian American lead, right? Or at least an actor of color in the lead role?

Why the All You Need is Kill casting isn’t subtle at all

In Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel, the lead character, Keiji Kiriya, is a
Japanese soldier who is part of an international military unit. For
the purposes of the American adaptation, director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity)has said that the actors will be “totally American.”
And somehow, “totally American” ended up meaning “white,” even though characters need not be white in order to be American.
In the script, Keiji Kiriya’s name was changed to “Billy Cage,” even though named Keiji have been fighting in the American military for generations.
Sound familiar? That’s because history is repeating itself. Starship Troopers,
another science fiction novel about an international army fighting
aliens, featured a Filipino protagonist named Juan Rico. In the 1997 film adaptation,
his name was changed to “Johnny” and he was cast with a white actor.
An opportunity for an Asian American actor in the genre of science
fiction was completely lost.

Science Fiction/Fantasy is a genre that has characters with names
like Kal-El, T’challa, Worf, Neytiri, Teal’c, Cthulhu, Meriadoc
Brandybuck, Leeloo, and Slartibartfast. Why was it necessary to change
Keiji Kiriya to Billy Cage?
To add insult to injury, unlike Akira (a story that only contained Japanese characters), the original All You Need is Kill already featured characters who were white!
The other lead characters in the book are Rita Vrataski and Ferrell Bartolome, both from the U.S. Armed Forces. Even
with an Asian American actor in the lead role, white actors would have
had ample opportunities to play important roles in the film!
Instead, the production went out of its way to retool the script,
erase Keiji’s name and ethnicity, and essentially, lock Asian American
actors out of one of their only chances to star in an action movie this
decade.

Impact on Performers and Communities of Color

Our concern is that Warner Bros casting practices employ racebending
to reinforce the systemic racism that is already present in Hollywood.
Setting Akira in neo-Manhattan could have been a great
opportunity to reflect the diversity in modern day New York City,
opening up lead role opportunities for not only Asian Americans but also
other performers of color. There was ample opportunity for Warner Bros
to demonstrate a commitment to diversity by finally casting a young
lead actor of color.
Likewise, casting an Asian American in All You Need is Kill
would not have locked out white actors from other lead roles in the
movie, especially since nearly all Warner Bros movies feature white
lead actors.Harold and Kumar (from back in 2004) aside, it doesn’t seem
like Warner Bros is interested in developing unknown Asian American
talent–even though they are more than ready to whitewash several lead
characters that were Asian to accomodate white actors.
Not to mention, Warner Bros will also be presenting a yellowface joke in it’s Christmas release, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Not confidence inspiring.
Maybe Asian American actors are like poor Keiji Kiriya: doomed to
constantly relive missed opportunities. When the rare Asian lead
character comes along…